Ministry of Justice

Electronic Cigarettes: Children

Lord Storey: To ask His Majesty's Government how many retailers have been prosecuted for selling disposable vapes to children.

Lord Bellamy: The Ministry of Justice publishes information on prosecutions, convictions and sentence outcomes in the Outcomes by Offence data tool, including offences as set out in the Offence Group Classification, both found via the following link: Criminal Justice System statistics quarterly: December 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). This includes the number of prosecutions for offences contrary to regulations under the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 (09185) and the sale of tobacco to person under 18 years of age (14401). However, whether this was specifically regarding the sale of disposable vapes to children is not held centrally in the Court Proceedings Database. This information may be held on court records but to examine individual court records would incur disproportionate costs.

Freedom of Expression: Gender

Lord Pearson of Rannoch: To ask His Majesty's Government whether theyintend to clarify whether freedom of speech in the UK includes the right to criticise ideas around gender identity.

Lord Bellamy: Freedom of expression has been interpreted in case law, for example on Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and under the common law. The concept of freedom of speech is also described for specific purposes in legislation such as the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023. The fundamental right to freedom of speech is widely understood and protected by the courts. The Government has no plans to outline the specific content of freedom of speech on an issue-by-issue basis.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

UK Internal Trade: Labelling

Lord Weir of Ballyholme: To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the additional costs to UK businesses of the requirement to provide additional labelling on goods to ensure that they are confined to the internal UK market.

Lord Benyon: We are not currently able to share figures but are working with industry to understand the costs.

Treasury

Pensions

Baroness Altmann: To ask His Majesty's Government what were the total pension contributions to (1) Defined Benefit or hybrid schemes, (2) Defined Contribution auto-enrolment workplace schemes, and (3) other pension schemes, in each of the past three years.

Baroness Altmann: To ask His Majesty's Government how much (1) gross tax relief, and (2) National Insurance relief, was given to (a) Defined Benefit or hybrid pension scheme employers, (b) Defined Benefit or hybrid pension scheme members, (c) Defined Contribution workplace scheme employers, (d) Defined Contribution pension scheme auto-enrolment members, and (e) other Defined Contribution pension scheme members, in each of the past three years.

Baroness Penn: Estimates of the cost of Income Tax and National Insurance Contribution relief on total pension contributions made in 2020 to 2021 can be found in Tables 1 and 2 below. Figures are provided in millions and rounded to the nearest hundred million pounds. Hybrid defined contribution and defined benefit schemes are counted as defined benefit schemes for the purpose of this analysis.HMRC do not publish estimates of total pension contributions.Table 1: Income Tax relief on pension contributions in 2020 to 2021 by type of contribution, £millionIncome Tax relief in 2020 to 2021 [provisional] on:Defined benefit schemeDefined contribution schemeIndividual contributions to net pay arrangements3,600900Individual contributions to relief at source schemes04,900Salary sacrificed contributions1,1003,600Employer contributions to net pay arrangements16,800*4,100Employer contributions to relief at source schemes05,900* Table 2: National Insurance Contribution (NIC) relief on pension contributions in 2020 to 2021 by type of contribution, £millionNIC relief in 2020 to 2021 [provisional] on:Defined benefit schemeDefined contribution schemeClass 1 Primary (employee) NIC relief on employer contributions to net pay arrangements4,900*1,000Class 1 Primary (employee) NIC relief on employer contributions to relief at source schemes01,500*Class 1 Primary (employee) NIC relief on salary sacrificed contributions300800Class 1 Secondary (employer) NIC relief on employer contributions to net pay arrangements8,200*1,800Class 1 Secondary (employer) NIC relief on employer contributions to relief at source schemes02,700*Class 1 Secondary (employer) NIC relief on salary sacrificed contributions5001,500 *These figures contain forecasts rather than being entirely based on outturn data sources. Please note that the figures provided are estimates only.